Role-Playing Game Adventures: Monster Plots

The Menagerie

Summary: A wealthy citizen has decided to start up a private menagerie of exotic creatures, and has commissioned the PCs to locate and capture the creatures.

Tips: Look through the Monster Manuals (or equivalent resources for your chosen game system) and pick half a dozen creatures that have interesting qualities, but that, for whatever reason, have never come into play in your game. The more unusual the creatures, the better! Your players will likely enjoy an encounter with a rare beast. Try to select creatures from very different environments so that the PCs can explore regions they have not yet encountered (such as volcanic mountains and caves, under the sea, or perhaps even a different plane of existence).

Potential Conflict: Lots. What if a band of druids finds out about this plan, and tries to sabotage the characters' efforts? What if the wealthy citizen actually wants to enslave the creatures for selfish purposes, or use their blood to fuel a dark ritual? What if one of the creatures is considered a holy totem animal by a tribe that lives near its lair? And, of course, the beasts themselves will probably not come along without a fight.

Trouble on the Farm

Summary: The PCs pass through an isolated village where something is very... wrong. Though the farmers' families are facing starvation, they will not raise a blade to slaughter their livestock, or raise a bow to hunt the wildlife in the surrounding forest. The truth of the matter is that the local lord is a famous lycanthrope-hunter, and a band of lycanthropes has joined together to overtake his region. Vicious were-boars ensure that no hogs are slain. A group of were-bears and werewolves stalk the forests. Were-rats and were-ravens slink about, acting as spies, and reporting any residents who dare try to go for help. Because the Lord's keep is well-fortified, the were-creatures dare not attempt a frontal assault; instead, they have chosen to starve his people in order to force a confrontation with him - and to dispose of him once and for all.